


Restless

by MiaouMiaou



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Canon Divergence, Drabble, Probably ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 16:53:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaouMiaou/pseuds/MiaouMiaou
Summary: When Nova enters Max's quarantine, he expects to have absorbed Insomnia's powers. Instead, he finds himself with a different new power, and that can only mean one thing.





	Restless

Max didn’t come in contact with people very often. There were the physicians, of course, and his adoptive father from time to time, but that was it. Adrian and his team came by every once and a while, which was nice, but it wasn’t the same as human contact.

It was still utterly terrifying when Nova had run into the quarantine. What was she thinking? Clearly, she couldn’t know, but still. To think of the danger that she was putting herself in just by being close to him, the danger that she was putting _him_ in by being close to him. Because as cool as some powers would be, not being able to sleep sounded awful, especially since he couldn’t go off and wander like she could.

It scared him when Adrian came in as well, of course, but Adrian at least knew, and was able to help, to drag Nova out when she fell asleep for the first time in years. And yes, the bonus was that Max could now do Adrian’s drawing thing. It wasn’t looking good for the sleeping thing, though.

Max hoped that the power was that Nova didn’t _need_ to sleep. Maybe she could, if she wanted to, but she didn’t. He liked sleeping. He wanted to keep sleeping. He didn’t want her stupid power.

The whole thing became far too big of a deal, but Adrian could still make things come to life with his drawings, even though Max could too, and Nova was apparently in the medbay. It wasn’t looking too bad, Adrian had said.

But when Adrian left, after their conversation (which Max was definitely going to have to follow up on again, but it did make him a little bit happy, knowing that he shared the ability to gain new powers with his adoptive brother), Max was left alone once more. He doodled on the glass for a little while, playing with his new power, but frowning when the glass did eventually meld back to flat pieces, just as the paper had when he had tried earlier. He had gotten a bit of Adrian’s power, but not enough, really. He sighed. It wasn’t that big of a deal. He hadn’t had the power before, so it wasn’t like he needed it. Besides, it made Adrian stop by and actually spend more time around him.

Max would never admit it, but he really was lonely in here.

The quarantine had never seemed as quiet as it did right now, the thrill of Nova and Adrian crossing into the quarantine still fresh in his memory. He wished Hugh wasn’t so busy, because he really missed having someone around who didn’t need to be in a hazmat suit. Maybe he just needed to ask again why he was dangerous to people who didn’t have powers. Why did he have to be locked away from everyone?

Max sighed again. He knew why. He knew exactly why, but it still sucked. All of these thoughts were making him antsy and his hand was hurting quite a bit. He grumbled as he made his way towards bed, it was late after all, and sleeping sometimes was the best thing to do when he needed to clear his head. He hoped that him being restless wasn’t because of Insomnia’s dumb power, because he liked Nova and didn’t want to have to hate her for making it impossible for him to sleep.

He’d just have to find out, he supposed, as he lay down in bed and stared at the glow in the dark stars that covered the ceiling in his bedroom, letting himself relax until he fell into a deep, deep sleep.

* * *

 

Max woke with a start, with someone shaking his shoulder. He sat upright in mild panic, because someone was in the quarantine _again_ and he didn’t want to keep hurting people like this. Without thinking, he pushed the figure away, and it slumped to the ground nearly immediately. A moment later, he came to his senses and realized that it was Hugh. Hugh, who wasn’t effected by Max’s original power, who had probably come to check in on him.

Hugh, who was fast asleep on the floor.

“Dad?” Max asked, looking down at his adoptive father, crawling out of bed and going to his side. “Dad?!” He shook him, but he didn’t seem to stir. Max stood up, worried. It wasn’t as though Hugh was in danger of Max’s power, but why was he asleep? Max couldn’t think of what power he had come into contact with that would allow him to do that.

In fact, the only person that Max could think of who could make people fall asleep was Nightmare, who was probably an Anarchist, but who definitely wasn’t good. But Max had never come in contact with Nightmare. Ever.

Well, clearly, he had.

Max looked over at Hugh, still asleep on the floor, and then set about putting a pillow below his head. Hopefully it wouldn’t last long.

Regardless, this was a new power. Unless it was a _really_ old one. But the odds of that were slim. And the only other new power he had was Adrian’s drawing one. So by process of elimination, and a bit of assumptions, he knew who it had to be.

When Hugh woke up a few minutes later, disorientated, he was faced with Max staring at him, looking nervous. “Max… What happened?” Max looked him straight in the eye, contemplating for a moment before blurting out:

“Nova is Nightmare.”

**Author's Note:**

> woah hey
> 
> So I guess I'm the first person to post a Renegades fic on AO3? neat!
> 
> I've had the book since October (yay ARCs!) and I LOVE IT so much! The conversation between Adrian and Max after the whole quarantine thing sparked this fic, because I'm like 90% sure that Max can use Nightmare's powers now (I guess we'll have to wait for the sequel to know for sure)
> 
> Anyway! Hope you enjoy! Comments and Kudos are always appreciated. 
> 
> I can be found at [chat-miaou](http://chat-miaou.tumblr.com/) on tumblr if you want to talk/scream about this book or other things!


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